


A Wild Yet Magical Thing

by mini_cutie



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Found Family, Found Family?, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Tsukishima Kei & Yamaguchi Tadashi Friendship, Tsukishima Kei is Bad at Feelings, Tsukishima Kei is Magical, Tsukishima Kei-centric, mentions of divorce
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-10-07 14:16:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17367413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mini_cutie/pseuds/mini_cutie
Summary: Tsukishima had thought that it had all begun with his father and what his father did. For that, Tsukishima loathed him.He couldn’t be any more wrong.For now, though, all Tsukishima could do was to carefully live in the wreckage his father had brought upon their family.





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> this was written a long time ago but i didn't really want to post it until now. i just have a huge writers block and it felt unfair not being able to update with anything so im just like... throwing out all these drafts that i hadnt published before

It had all started when Tsukishima Kei moved to Tokyo because his father was suddenly out of the picture.

His parents’ divorce was quick and quiet, like they didn’t want to make too much of a fuss. Tsukishima’s father told him that it was one sided, that his mother didn’t want him around anymore, that he really wanted to stay.

Tsukishima had held back any witty remarks. He couldn’t tell his father that he saw how he looked at his mother, how there was a hint of disdain in his gaze, how he barely ever even touched her let alone spent a night in their house. 

He couldn’t tell his father how he noticed all of that, how both he and Akiteru had noticed how loveless their marriage was, how they noticed that it was all his father’s fault.

Tsukishima couldn’t tell him that nobody was on his side.

So, instead, he stayed silent the entire time they packed boxes, the entire time his father tiptoed around them like he was walking on broken glass, the entire time they drove up to Tokyo. 

He spared a somewhat forced happy greeting when he arrived at his grandparents’ place but, after that, when he had to unpack his things and get ready for an entirely new school the next day, he returned to being quiet.

Tsukishima’s plan for his new school was just to coast through. He was smart enough to get good grades and he didn’t speak much already anyway. It wouldn’t be too much of an effort to speak even less.

He had told Akiteru as much and he hated the painful expression on his older brother’s face. But, he couldn’t help it, couldn’t do anything but look back at his brother with the same expression.

It had all begun with Tsukishima’s father and, for that, Tsukishima loathed him. 

He couldn’t be any more wrong.

For now, though, all Tsukishima could do was to carefully live in the wreckage his father had brought upon their family. 


	2. 8-years-old

Tsukishima wasn’t used to walking to school. It was weird and, before, both Akiteru and Tsukishima had been driven by their father. However, since their father was out of the picture, now, and Tsukishima’s mother was working odd jobs, they had to walk to school.

Plus, it wasn’t as if school was very far. In fact, Tsukishima’s grandparents lived very near the elementary school that Tsukishima was supposed to attend. Akiteru’s junior high school was a little farther but not by much.

All the two brothers had to do was walk a couple of blocks and then they separated in front of a playground. Akiteru had to go left to get to school and Tsukishima had to keep going straight, past the playground.

When Tsukishima, his mother and his brother did a practice run the very same day they had first gotten to Tokyo, the path had been easy enough. Tsukishima himself had even bragged that he could do it with his eyes closed.

Akiteru had proceeded to agree, joking that  _ of course he could, it was a straight line _ .

Now, though, now that the two brothers were right beside the playground, now that it was time for them to actually go their separate ways, the straight line to school seemed much scarier than Tsukishima had expected.

Distantly, he realised that this would be the first time he’d be away from Akiteru since the divorce.

When Tsukishima’s mother and father had their big fight, Akiteru had been there, holding him close, shielding his face, plugging earphones into his ears to try and drown out the yelling and the crashing of objects.

Then, the day after, they weren’t allowed to go to school because Tsukishima’s father had stormed off. They didn’t go to school at all after that. So, they just stayed together, went on walks together around Miyagi, just milling about, a small eight year old child and his older fourteen year old brother.

They couldn’t do that now that they lived in busy Tokyo where anything could happen but, in Miyagi, it was calm and quiet and everyone more or less knew everyone else. 

That was beside the point.

“Kei?” Akiteru noticed how Tsukishima hesitated and there was a worried expression on his face “You okay?”

Tsukishima mulled over the question before nodding but hesitantly, his grip on Akiteru’s hand tightening before falling away all together. He needed to be strong for Akiteru and their mother, he had promised he would.

So, instead of clutching onto Akiteru’s hand, Tsukishima moved to grasp at his backpack straps. For some reason, the weight of it on his shoulders felt just a little bit heavier.

If Akiteru noticed the change in Tsukishima, he didn’t mention it. Instead, he gave his usual bright smile as he ruffled Tsukishima’s hair “Don’t tell me you don’t remember how to get to school? You were bragging that you could do it with your eyes closed yesterday.”

“Of course I haven’t forgotten!” Tsukishima pushed away Akiteru’s hand, trying to act defiant but there wasn’t an edge in his tone or in the way he hesitated as he pushed away Akiteru’s hand.

Akiteru seemed reassured by Tsukshima’s words because he nodded curtly and moved to walk away “Alright, be safe, okay?”

“Okay. You be safe too.” Tsukishima murmured back, just loud enough for Akiteru to hear “Good luck at tryouts for volleyball.”

“Thanks!” Akiteru yelled back and, slowly, Tsukishima’s brother got smaller and smaller the farther he walked away until, finally, Akiteru turned another corner and he was gone. That left Tsukishima still standing right where his brother left him.

It felt almost anticlimactic. Tsukishima had expected more tears and, yes, he did feel like crying as he stood there but the tears didn’t fall from his eyes nor did they fall from Akiteru’s. Tsukishima briefly wondered how Akiteru was just taking all of this in stride.

Instead of dwelling on it too long, Tsukishima turned to the direction he was supposed to be walking and started on his way. 

His walking was cut short by the sounds of children yelling. It wasn’t a surprise since Tsukishima was walking alongside a playground but he quickly stopped when he realised the words he was hearing wasn’t exactly kind.

“Your freckles are so ugly, Tadashi, and you’re so short and puny!”

“Maybe if you carry all of our bags, you could bulk up!”

The kids’ laughter rang loudly once again and, of course, Tsukishima couldn’t help but stop and stare. 

There were three kids, all of them significantly shorter than Tsukishima himself. They were standing in front of a little kid and the little kid seemed to be on the ground and on the verge of crying.

Then, suddenly, the kid in the middle tossed his backpack and it landed right on the smaller kid’s face before falling onto his lap. That seemed to be the last straw for the little kid because his eyes watered and his lips quivered.

He was really about to cry. Were these kids bullying this smaller kid?

“Seriously, you’re about to cry?” The kid to the left of the one that tossed the bag cackled as if there was something so hilarious about bringing a small kid to tears.

The third kid laughed too and there was a stick in his hand, raised as if ready to hit the smaller kid “Not a surprise. He cries about everything.”

“Where are those big kids you hang around now, Cry Baby Tadashi?” The first kid taunted and that was when Tsukishima seriously couldn’t take it anymore.

He stepped closer and, as he did, the crunch of the playground sand brought the entire group’s attention to him.

The first kid grew angry at Tsukishima as if Tsukishima had no right to interrupt “What are you looking at, huuuh?”

The kid to the left whispered something in that kid’s ear and the kid responded loudly as if wanting Tsukishima to hear “Sixth grader? I’ve never seen this kid before. No way he’s a sixth grader.”

Tsukishima got that a lot since he was very tall so it didn’t surprise him and, instead, he put on a haughty expression. He managed to chuckle arily, smirk spread across his lips “Picking on someone smaller than you? How lame.”

Even that small phrase had Tsukishima’s heart almost beating out of his chest. Still, at least they stopped picking on the small kid. Before Tsukishima could even do anything else, the third kid stepped up, stick still in his hand.

“Excuse me _? _ ” 

As soon as the kid stepped up, however, it was obvious that Tsukishima towered over him. All Tsukishima had to do was scrunch his face up, glare angry and eyes burning as he leaned over the kid “I said ‘ _ How lame’ _ .”

That definitely made the kid falter and he took a couple of steps back before sputtering out “Y-You’re the l-lame one! Four-eyes!”

As soon as he said that, the three scrambled away, grabbing their backpacks and heading to the same direction Tsukishima was headed to as well. So, they went to the same school, huh. Tsukishima definitely wasn’t excited to see what problems he’d face now that he’d stood up to them.

Still, that was the last of his problems. Instead of worrying about that, he turned his eyes to the small kid who was still on the sand, tears and snot streaming down his face “Gross.”

The kid didn’t even flinch and, instead, hurriedly rubbed at his eyes and his nose “Th-Th-Thank you.”

“It’s no problem.” Tsukishima tried to act as aloof as possible before holding out his hand. 

The kid stared at it as if it the hand in front of him were made of gold before turning his wide brown eyes to Tsukishima. Then, he started crying all over again.

Tsukishima’s whole aloof act broke immediately and he felt panicked and flushed when faced with the situation at hand. He needed to get to class, he didn’t know this kid and now the kid was bawling his eyes out.

“H-Hey--” 

“Hey!” A stronger voice called out, interrupting Tsukishima’s sentence. 

Quickly, Tsukishima turned and he was greeted with the sight of three obviously older kids, all of them taller than Tsukishima. Two of them were dashing over to where Tsukishima was and the other walked briskly.

The two that were dashing over looked pretty angry. The third one looked angry too but at least his anger was subdued. The other two looked ready to kick Tsukishima’s behind.

At first, Tsukishima felt pretty confused. Then, he quickly realised that,  _ of course they were angry _ , it looked like he was bullying this kid.

Tsukishima cursed his luck. His parents got divorced, he already missed his brother and, now, he was mistaken for a bad guy. Silently, Tsukishima just hoped they wouldn’t beat him up too hard.

Just as the older kids got to them, however, the small kid finally stopped sobbing and, with his face wet and his lips trembling, he jumped up at pulled Tsukishima into a big hug. Tsukishima couldn’t feel it through his favourite hoodie but he could already bet that there was a huge stain on the front made of tears and snot.

Quickly, he composed himself and patted the kid on the back “Is your face okay?”

As he said that, he made eye contact with the three older kids and they stared back at him, bewildered and confused. Tsukishima completely understood. After all, they had thought he had been the villain but, if the small kid was hugging him, obviously that wasn’t the case.

“Tadashi…” One of the older kids--he had black messy hair and an ugly fringe--spoke up “Who is this?”

At the voice, the kid let go of Tsukishima and, instead, turned to the group of older kids, face still a mess “K-K-Kuroo!”

Tsukishima felt bad for the kid so he quickly dug through his pockets, turning up with his second favourite handkerchief. With somewhat rough movements, he turned the kid around and wiped at his face “Clean yourself up.”

That seemed to snap the kid into reality because he glanced at Tsukishima’s face and then at the wet spot on Tsukishima’s hoodie and then at the handkerchief in Tsukishima’s hand “Oh no! You h-helped me and I-- I-- I--”

“It’s fine. It’s no big deal.” Tsukishima saw how panicked the boy was and so he straightened, offering his handkerchief to the kid “You don’t happen to like Pokemon, do you?”

The kid focused on the handkerchief and he probably quickly realised that it had a cute design featuring pikachu on it “Y-Yeah.”

“You can have it.” Tsukishima gestured the handkerchief to the kid once again before smirking and chuckling “I mean, your snot is already all over it anyway.”

The kid looked panicked at Tsukishima’s words but, upon really staring at Tsukishima’s face, he must’ve realised that Tsukishima was simply joking. Slowly, he took the handkerchief and nodded “My name is Ya-Yamaguchi Tadashi.”

Then, Yamaguchi gestured to the three older kids that had arrived only minutes ago “Th-These are my friends; Kuroo, Bokuto and Akaashi.”

At each mention of their names, they gave a small wave or a small nod. The three of them seemed nice enough and it was hard to really call them terrible when, only minutes ago, they were simply concerned for their friend.

Even then, they hadn’t really  _ done _ anything to Tsukishima other than shout angrily at him.

So, Tsukishima decided to be civil. He turned to the three older kids and gave a small bow, hands instinctively reaching for his backpack straps “Nice to meet you, I’m Tsukishima Kei.”

Then, another one of them, Bokuto--hair just as black and just as messy--scratched at his head, making a noise of confusion “Man, I’m so lost right now.”

“Same.” Kuroo--the one that had called out to Tsukishima earlier--nodded as well but, instead of confusion, he looked more sheepish than anything.

Akaashi--the third, hair also black but neatly styled--nodded a bit more slowly before he turned his sharp but very pretty eyes to Tsukishima “Sorry for the misunderstanding. Everyone bullies Yamaguchi-san so we thought--”

“Yeah, there were these kids earlier.” Tsukishima interrupted, eyes flickering to Yamaguchi who was currently wiping his nose on his newly acquired handkerchief.

“Usually, we get here pretty early to prevent it but Bokuto stayed up last night and woke up late.” Kuroo explained before sending Bokuto a rather irritated look. Tsukishima could tell, however, that Kuroo wasn’t as irritated as he seemed.

Slowly, Tsukishima nodded before tilting his head in the direction of school “Well, I’m going to… head over to school since Yamaguchi-san is in good hands.”

“You go to the elementary school a couple of blocks from here, right?” Bokuto shouted out right before Tsukishima could turn and leave, grin wide on his face “We do too.”

“What class are you in? Maybe you’re in Tadashi’s class too!” Bokuto then added, slinking over and wrapping an arm around Tsukishima’s shoulders.

Unused to such open displays of physical affection, Tsukishima’s eyes wandered over to Yamaguchi and his expression clearly read ‘ _ What the hell?’ _ plain and simple. 

Yamaguchi chuckled a little, laugh slightly wet since he was still recovering from crying “Th-The three of them can be like that s-sometimes.”

“It means you’re our friend now.” Yamaguchi then added, folding the handkerchief he had received neatly and pressing it against his chest as if it were something precious. Giving it to Yamaguchi may not have been a big deal to Tsukishima but, obviously, it was a big deal to Yamaguchi.

“Of course! Anyone who’d defend Yama over here is a friend of ours.” Kuroo walked closer as well, ruffling Yamaguchi’s hair. Yamaguchi, seemingly used to it, only whined but playfully.

_ So much for laying low and keeping to himself _ was all Tsukishima could think. As he thought that, however, the third older kid, Akaashi, the one that had said the least out of all of them, caught his eye.

There wasn’t anything he was particularly doing, of course. He was just standing there, hands gripping his bag straps, same as Tsukishima. Yet, it was… unnerving. He was staring at Tsukishima as if he could stare right  _ through _ him,  _ into  _ him. 

Tsukishima quickly looked away grip on his bag straps tightening “I guess… if we’re headed the same way… then we should get going?”

The grin on Yamaguchi’s lips practically split his face in half.

**Author's Note:**

> i appreciate so much that you read this far! thank you and if you liked it, please leave a kudos or a comment! if you didn't, lemme know how i can improve! i'll try to update as soon as i can. if you want a say in what i get to update next, check out my twitter @minikkukkungi. i also post abt updates on my tumblr @mini-ghost-writer


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